{"id":9540,"date":"2016-07-19T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/?p=9540"},"modified":"2017-05-11T09:08:54","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T16:08:54","slug":"cloud-therapy-ep-012-the-best-business-phone-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/cloud-therapy-ep-012-the-best-business-phone-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Therapy: EP 012 &#8211; The Best Business Phone Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cloud-TherapyEP012.jpg\" rel='magnific'><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9542\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cloud-TherapyEP012.jpg\" alt=\"Cloud TherapyEP012\" width=\"544\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cloud-TherapyEP012.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cloud-TherapyEP012-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cloud-TherapyEP012-250x139.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cloud-TherapyEP012-600x333.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span>? <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI<\/a><\/span>? <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/cloud\/communications-and-collaboration\/cloud-phone-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hosted VoIP<\/a><\/span>? We know you aren&#8217;t fascinated by any of them but which should your company be using? Your host, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mikesmithaerocom\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mike Smith<\/a> takes the mic and answers this question for IT Nation. Having worked with voice from every provider imaginable for 17 years, and a consumer of business voice for 14, Mike has strong opinions on this topic and let&#8217;s &#8217;em fly!<br \/>\n<iframe style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/4501359\/height\/90\/width\/640\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/87A93A\/\" width=\"640\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nWant more Cloud Therapy?\u00a0Subscribe to us on <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cloud-therapy-aerocominc.com\/id1112772590?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\">iTunes<\/a> or <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/cloud-therapy-with-aerocominccom?refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\">Stitcher<\/a><\/span>!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>What&#8217;s AeroCom&#8217;s recommendation for the 3 top voice service providers that are the best fit for your company&#8217;s size,<\/strong> <strong>location<\/strong>, <strong>and requirements? <em>Click below<\/em> to find out.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/static.leadpages.net\/leadboxes\/current\/embed.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><button style=\"background: #f26e22; border-color: #f26e22; border-radius: 4px; color: #ffffff; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; padding: 16px 32px; min-width: 192px; border: 1px solid #f26e22; font-size: 1rem; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center; outline: 0; line-height: 1; cursor: pointer; -webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 5px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);\" data-leadbox-popup=\"144249073f72a2:136337e37f46dc\">MY TOP 3<\/button>\u00a0 <\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><em>Find the full transcript below:<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 Mike: So, you\u2019re faced with choosing a new phone service provider for your company. This means you\u2019re probably either replacing your phone system or your contract for your PRI service is due \u2013 they are up for renewal with your current service provider. Whatever the scenario is, you\u2019re sitting there going, \u201cShould we upgrade to <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span>? Should we go to <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/cloud\/communications-and-collaboration\/cloud-phone-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">hosted VoIP<\/a><\/span>? Should we stay with <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI<\/a><\/span>s? Should we go to <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pots\/\" target=\"_blank\">analog lines<\/a><\/span>?\u201d I know a lot of IT professionals face this at one point or another and I know it\u2019s a big area of discomfort for most IT professionals because voice is never an IT professional\u2019s specialty. As I\u2019ve said before in previous shows, I know this from experience \u2013 it\u2019s not just the area that you spent a lot of time with, which is fine. You guys know servers inside and out and a lot of other stuff. Well, voice is something I know really well. I\u2019ve been selling voice services to businesses since 1999. That\u2019s almost seventeen years as of October. It\u2019s something I know really well. It\u2019s something I\u2019m very comfortable with. I\u2019ve advised hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses on which type of voice technology they should be using and I know it like the back of my hand. So, I thought it would be cool to do a quick podcast and go through some scenarios and tell you what type of voice technology is the right technology for certain situations and applications. In addition to all that value, I\u2019ve also got another free gift to you. As I\u2019ve mentioned in the last podcast or two, I took a lot of time to put together a comparison of the major voice technologies out there since I know a lot of you IT professionals aren\u2019t that familiar with voice. I put it down on a piece of paper where I list in nice, neat columns: PRI, SIP, Analog lines, all that good stuff. In the rows, I put down all the different features and functionality so that you get to see, side by side, what are the differences between the major voice access technologies out there that your companies can use and which scenarios are each of these the best fit. So, kind of, what I\u2019m talking about today, but it\u2019s broken down into a nice, neat voice guide. If you want that, I\u2019ll send it to you for free, no problem, just as a thank you for listening to our podcast, just text the word \u201cVOICEGUIDE\u201d to the number 44-222. Again, text the word \u201cVOICEGUIDE\u201d to the number 44-222 and I will send you that via email. <a href=\"https:\/\/aerocominc.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/1466eec73f72a2%3A136337e37f46dc\/5632763172487168\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/4iun1BR1P9oq26l3sURXSHWGCZzB2VrysvSbbXInnT_DI6KsPJ0TSk316HnWlOsx4I729BoWSThyL6iuI9QXvQ=s0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><script src=\"https:\/\/aerocominc.leadpages.co\/leadbox-1468522675.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" data-leadbox=\"1466eec73f72a2:136337e37f46dc\" data-url=\"https:\/\/aerocominc.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/1466eec73f72a2%3A136337e37f46dc\/5632763172487168\/\" data-config=\"%7B%7D\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Before I get started, I wanted to throw something out there. I\u2019m going to be making certain recommendations based on certain types of applications that your company could be doing. The one thing I\u2019m never going to take into consideration in this podcast is corporate politics.<\/p>\n<p>What I mean by that is, over the years, I\u2019ve heard IT professionals tell me all kinds of stuff like, \u201cWell, our management team doesn\u2019t want anything to do with VoIP,\u201d or \u201cMy boss doesn\u2019t believe in renting anything,\u201d or all that crazy stuff. Regardless of whatever old school, crazy ideas your management team has, there is a right answer in terms of what technology you should be using for certain reasons and why and politics should not come into play.<\/p>\n<p>In my own opinion, if somebody is hiring you to be their technology person within the company, it is your job to tell them what the company needs to be doing, why they should be using it, and give you the freedom to choose that regardless of whatever weird hang-ups on different technologies that are based on misinformation that they have. If you\u2019re not in a situation where you can really truly advise your management team on what you should be using and act on that, my suggestion is you\u2019re in the wrong spot.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, the point is, I\u2019m not going to adjust to any of that stuff because I think it\u2019s a bunch of nonsense anyway. I\u2019m just going to tell you what I think and why I think it, and you guys can take it and do with it what you like. So, that\u2019s enough on that.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing we have to establish are the different options out there that are available. Let\u2019s define those:<\/p>\n<p>The first is the tried and true <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI T1<\/a><\/span>. That\u2019s a pure ISDN PRI T1 and it has twenty-three channels on it, which allows twenty-three simultaneous calls to take place, and it allows you to have DIDs, which are direct phone numbers. It\u2019s what most large businesses probably have today, still. It\u2019s been the staple of business telecommunications for midsized companies for many, many, many years and even a lot of small companies. That\u2019s the first option.<\/p>\n<p>The second option is <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span> over BYOB, which stands for \u201cBring Your Own Bandwidth,\u201d which means SIP over third-party internet connectivity, which means SIP trunking. You\u2019re sending your phone calls or you\u2019re getting your dial tone through the internet. That\u2019s the second option.<\/p>\n<p>The third option is dedicated SIP. What this means is you go with a SIP service provider who brings out a private SIP circuit just for your phone service. In essence, this is, kind of, duplicating a PRI T1 except you\u2019re using VoIP technology instead of TDM technology.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of going SIP and sending your calls over the public internet, you\u2019re getting a dedicated circuit. What that means is that the service provider guarantees perfect phone service quality at all times even though you\u2019re using SIP because they are managing the circuit. That SIP company is bringing out a private circuit and they are managing the voice quality as it transmits back to their main point of presence. On the entire route, they\u2019re managing that voice quality. It\u2019s never hitting the public internet, so they are guaranteeing perfect phone service just like they would with a PRI.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, we\u2019ve said PRI, SIP over BYOB, and then Dedicated SIP. Another one is hosted VoIP over BYOB. This is where a service provider brings out your phone system for you or, I should say, handsets and, sometimes, switches, and the brain of your phone system is located back at the provider\u2019s central office. You are connecting the phones back to that brain of your phone system over the public internet, over BYOB, like a third-party internet connection. In that scenario, voice quality is not guaranteed just like with BYOB SIP, but it\u2019s a little less expensive because the provider is not bringing out a separate voice-only circuit.<\/p>\n<p>You can probably guess what the next one is \u2013 it\u2019s dedicated circuit <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/cloud\/communications-and-collaboration\/cloud-phone-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">hosted VoIP<\/a><\/span>. The hosted VoIP provider brings out a dedicated point-to-point, so to speak, circuit that connects you back to their central office so that when you\u2019re sending or receiving calls, it\u2019s going through a protected environment. In that scenario, call quality is guaranteed at a 100% all the time perfect. If the call quality\u2019s bad, it\u2019s on the provider\u2019s end, there\u2019s something wrong. It has nothing to do with your internet connection, it\u2019s on the provider. Call quality is guaranteed to be the same as it would over, again, like a <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>So, we\u2019ve gone over PRI, BYOB SIP, dedicated SIP, BYOB hosted VoIP, and dedicated VoIP. The last one, but not least, is the old <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pots\/\" target=\"_blank\">POTS line \u2013 analog lines<\/a><\/span>. This is what everybody has right now for their fax lines, some people still have them for their business lines, but that\u2019s the last type of voice access.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what you\u2019re looking at when it comes to voice. One of those options is going to be the right fit for you, but which one? That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to tell you.<\/p>\n<p>The first question that you absolutely need to be asking and really have a clear understanding of is: What is the benefit you\u2019re trying to get from this transition?<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re considering changing voice service, obviously, this is a big deal. You could have downtime during the transition, this is going to require a little bit of work on your part, and some time invested, you better be doing it for a good reason.<\/p>\n<p>You really want to be narrowing down why you are doing this. For instance, are you buying a new phone system and your current phone service lines won\u2019t work with the new phone system that you\u2019re using or that you\u2019re buying? Are you trying to save money? Has your boss tasked you with lowering the phone bills for your company? Do you just need a better, more functional phone system or do you need to be able to talk seamlessly to other locations or things like that? What is the number one benefit that you\u2019re trying to achieve by going through this transition? Keep that in mind throughout the whole thing.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019m not going to go through every, different scenario and tell you what type of technology is best for what type of benefit because that\u2019s going to depend on a lot of other variables, but I\u2019m going to focus on other variables instead. My point is, keep that one main benefit in mind throughout the whole process of you shopping different technologies.<\/p>\n<p>The first application I wanted to discuss today is contact centers. For instance, do you have a dispatch, or do you have a customer service line, or any type of contact center functionality? Do you have that going on in your company? Are people calling in and asking questions from salespeople? Anything like that where you have an 800 number, and you\u2019re getting a lot of inbound calls, or you\u2019re sending out a lot of outbound calls out. If you have anything like that and you are purchasing a new phone system, absolutely, without a doubt, hosted VoIP is the way you want to go. Do not purchase an on-prem phone system.<\/p>\n<p>Why am I so certain? Because of experimentation. If you\u2019re a company that has a contact center, typically, you\u2019re a company that a lot of your business revolves around that contact center. Whether it\u2019s an outbound contact center or whether it\u2019s your customer service line, that customer experience within that contact center is super important to your business. Whether or not you see that angle of it from the IT department or not, that is critical to your company\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, since it\u2019s critical, you really want to be constantly experimenting with different ideas when it comes to your contact center. You might want to experiment with chat for a while. You might want to experiment on some advanced call routing things like routing calls based on the last person that they spoke to. Maybe, you want to implement surveys where after each call, each caller is being surveyed on their level of satisfaction and making sure that if they had bad experience that they never get routed to that same contact center agent again.<\/p>\n<p>All these little fun things that you can experiment with a hosted VoIP system, meaning you can turn it on for a little bit, if it works well, great, expand it. If it doesn\u2019t work well, you can turn it off and stop paying for it. You cannot do that with an on-prem system. That\u2019s why I recommend, absolutely, if you\u2019re using any type of contact center or a call center, go with hosted VoIP just for that reason alone.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it\u2019s more redundant, so if, for some reason, your voice access dies like your PRI or the power goes out or something like that, you can reroute your calls. Your calls are still being received from that brain of the phone system in the cloud or back at the provider and they can simply reroute the calls to another location, or another phone number, or voicemail that\u2019s still active. If you have an on-prem system and access to your locations gets cut off like the power goes out or your PRI goes down, your whole contact center is down. All the people calling in or trying to call out is down. There\u2019s no other way to do it. There are a lot of advantages, but, I\u2019d say, just because of the experimentation thing, alone, everybody in our industry contact centers should absolutely go with hosted VoIP.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you\u2019re not looking to replace your phone system and you have a contact center, you\u2019re just looking to replace the phone lines or something like that, what I\u2019ve said, kind of, still appeals to you. There are a couple of providers out there who can actually give you a hosted VoIP phone system that will allow you to keep your existing handsets and phone system in-house that you currently have. The way they do it is they integrate their online software with your on-prem phone system so you can use both. You can be picking up the phone with your on-prem phone system and utilizing online call center software that\u2019s routing calls and doing all the tricky stuff. So, there are ways to implement hosted VoIP with an on-prem system.<\/p>\n<p>Say, none of that is the is the case and you have a big, sophisticated on-prem phone system that you\u2019re not looking to change and you have a contact center, but you\u2019re just wondering should you switch from <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI<\/a><\/span>s to SIP. That depends. If you absolutely want to make sure you have perfect call quality at all times, you\u2019d have to go to dedicated SIP, meaning the provider would have to bring in T1s or some type of dedicated fiber circuit that\u2019s just for voice. Your SIP provider would have to bring it in.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d have to look at that cost difference. You might be able to save a little bit on the rates if you have a high volume of calls with SIP as opposed to PRI, but probably not a whole lot. You\u2019re not going to experience a huge cost savings from going from PRIs to dedicated SIP. So, I\u2019d say, you know what? Probably just stick with PRIs if you\u2019re looking to just switch providers. You can probably just switch PRI providers and get a lower rate. If you\u2019re not changing your phone system and you have a contact center in place, I\u2019d probably not recommend switching voice access technologies from PRI to SIP or vice-versa if you can avoid it. That would be my recommendation there.<\/p>\n<p>Second scenario is your company is looking to switch voice access technologies or investigate it and you have multiple locations. If you have multiple locations or your company has multiple locations, I should say, and you\u2019re looking to replace your phone system as well, I would recommend hosted VoIP. Why? Because you can have one seamless phone system distributed with all the locations with one voicemail system, all that.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very simple to set up, very simple to manage. You can have dedicated circuits at your larger sites and have guaranteed voice quality, and you can have hosted VoIP over BYOB at your small sites that aren\u2019t big enough to warrant a dedicated circuit. Again, you can have seamless communication between all locations. Each location can transfer calls back and forth, you don\u2019t need to set up a wide area network like an MPLS network in order to transfer calls between sites and have good call quality, you can have your credit department approving credit for customers at one site and you can have customer service at the next, you could transfer calls seamlessly between one another without a network \u2013 all those different things.<\/p>\n<p>From an IT standpoint, you can manage it, do adds, moves, and changes from anywhere. You don\u2019t have to be on-site. It\u2019s super easy for IT to manage. It\u2019s just a much better scenario. If you have multiple locations, hosted VoIP is definitely the way to go.<\/p>\n<p>If you went with an on-prem system, you\u2019d have to set up an MPLS network. If you want to be able to transfer calls seamlessly, you\u2019d have to have boxes installed at all sites, possibly. It\u2019s a big undertaking and you really have to be getting involved in a lot of voice stuff if you want to do an on-prem system with multiple sites, so I don\u2019t recommend it if you\u2019re shopping for new phone systems right now.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you\u2019re looking for just voice access options and you already have a phone system in place, maybe, have an MPLS network already in place or something. Your contract is coming up with your voice provider for your PRIs, and that type of thing, and you\u2019re wondering, \u201cHey, should we go to <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span> at all these sites or what should we do?\u201d SIP is probably the best scenario for multiple locations as opposed to doing, say, PRIs at all the sites or if you\u2019re doing analog at some sites and PRIs at others, SIP is probably the best way to go.<\/p>\n<p>Guess what? You probably don\u2019t have to do anything to your phone system to go from your current voice access technology over to SIP. There are a lot of SIP providers that can hand the SIP service off to you as <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pots\/\" target=\"_blank\">analog lines<\/a><\/span> or PRIs for your phone system. They just bring a box out on site that the SIP connection plugs into and out pops a PRI handoff or an analog line hand off so that your phone system doesn\u2019t need a new card or you don\u2019t have to do any changes to the phone system at all. You can get SIP service no matter what your current voice access technology is.<\/p>\n<p>The reason I recommend, probably, going SIP if you have multiple locations is, first and foremost, the failover capability with SIP is much better. With SIP, you can have a primary place that your incoming calls are coming to. If that route fails, you can fail that incoming call over to anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world. You cannot do that with analog lines or PRIs. You can only do that with SIP. PRIs, you can fail it over to, say, analog lines, but they have to be in the local area. It\u2019s just the nature of TDM technology. With SIP, you can take that call and fail it over to anywhere in the country using the right provider.<\/p>\n<p>Also, if you have multiple locations, SIP is better because you can have the flexibility of having local phone numbers from any site ring into any site in the country. You cannot do that with PRI or analog lines. It\u2019s just the way that the phone company and all the regulations are set up. For instance, if you have one location that wants to take in all the phone calls and then distribute them throughout the country, you can do that with SIP. You can have all the local phone numbers from each one of your sites in the country ringing into one site. You cannot do that with PRI. With PRI, the only local phone numbers you can have ringing in on that PRI are the ones from that local vicinity, same thing with analog lines.<\/p>\n<p>SIP just allows you more flexibility if you have multiple locations. If you have multiple locations and you\u2019re not switching out your phone system, I recommend going to SIP and I recommend finding a provider than can hand off SIP as PRI or analog lines so that you don\u2019t have to make any changes to your current phone system.<\/p>\n<p>Well, what if you don\u2019t have multiple locations? What if you just have a single location? Okay. If you have a single location, if you are looking to replace your phone system, the only time I recommend going with an on-prem phone system, like going out and buying an on-premises phone system, is if your company doesn\u2019t foresee any changes like growth more than, say, 10%, downsizing more than 10%, industry changes, things like that within, say, the next ten years.<\/p>\n<p>So, you guys have never really changed a whole lot, you don\u2019t foresee any changes going on, you have a single location, you know what? You\u2019re a good fit for an on-prem phone system. Why? Because nothing\u2019s going to change. You don\u2019t have to change anything. You can buy a system and ride that thing out for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s probably the only scenario that I\u2019d say that\u2019s a good fit. Otherwise, if you foresee any changes whatsoever, go with a <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/cloud\/communications-and-collaboration\/cloud-phone-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">hosted VoIP phone system<\/a><\/span>. Why? Because you can\u2019t predict how big your company is going to be and you also can\u2019t predict how small your company is going to be, which the way most companies are these days.<\/p>\n<p>Industries are changing so fast that if you look at\u2026 If you study business like I do, everyone is always talking about the rate of change in business right now is faster than it\u2019s ever been. Everybody has to reinvent themselves all the time and nobody can really predict how their business is going to be acting in five years. If that\u2019s the case, communications has to go with the type of things that you\u2019re doing. There are so many new technologies coming out on the communications end that you just cannot be tied down to anything.<\/p>\n<p>You know what? All that ROI stuff that I\u2019ve seen decision makers talk about, \u201cWell, oh, with hosted vs. on-prem, our ROI on an on-prem is within three years,\u201d that\u2019s a bunch of nonsense. I have a business major from college, I have an MBA, I\u2019ve owned my own business for thirteen years, and that is the <strong><em>worst<\/em><\/strong> way to calculate anything I\u2019ve ever heard of. There\u2019s a huge thing that\u2019s being left out of that \u2013 it\u2019s called \u201copportunity cost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If your company changes drastically or changes quite a bit in the next few years and you\u2019re stuck with an old phone system, there\u2019s a huge opportunity cost there. Your company is missing out on a ton of communications efficiency and lack of productivity from the number one cost it has, which is employees. If your employees can\u2019t communicate properly and can\u2019t communicate as well as their competitors can, your company\u2019s getting crushed. So, ROI on a phone system just by doing a straight math calculation is missing a huge component of that opportunity cost.<\/p>\n<p>So, absolutely. There\u2019s way too much change going on right now especially if you look at phones themselves. Phones themselves, do you really think handsets for businesses are going to look the same as they do now, maybe, five years from now? Well, look at your cell phone. Do you think cell phones are going to look the same in five years? Well, why would you think anything different of the handset sitting on your desk?<\/p>\n<p>In an industry that\u2019s going through a massive overhaul like telecommunications, why would you buy anything? Don\u2019t buy it. Rent it. Trust me. It\u2019s a better write off for the business, it just makes more sense, and it\u2019s completely reliable. All that stuff you hear about it not being reliable, that\u2019s nonsense. Just go to dedicated circuit, it\u2019s totally reliable.<\/p>\n<p>Also, I\u2019d argue that it\u2019s more reliable than an on-prem phone system because if someone tries to call you, just like we talked about with a call center, and your phone lines are down for whatever reason (we all know PRIs go down, we all know power goes out), your phone calls are still being received. All of your users can simply redirect their phone calls to their cell phone. In fact, a lot of them have find me\/follow me on anyway, so they\u2019re still coming in. At the very least, they\u2019re just answered by voicemail in the cloud or you could redirect it, but they\u2019re never going down. So, to me, a cloud phone system or a hosted phone system is more reliable than an on-prem phone system. So, that unreliability factor just doesn\u2019t exist. That\u2019s why I\u2019m such a proponent for hosted phone systems.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve had a hosted phone system in our office since 2005. It\u2019s been fantastic. We don\u2019t have any issues with it. It\u2019s brought us a lot of advantages. You know what? I wouldn\u2019t even buy the handset. Some providers offer the handset, don\u2019t even buy the handsets. I\u2019ve done that before, I\u2019ve made that mistake, and I\u2019ve regretted it. I\u2019ve paid $300 for a handset. I\u2019ve paid $100 for handsets. I don\u2019t want to pay anything for handsets moving forward because, within five years, I always want different ones. There are better things. There are now big, colored touch screens for handsets that allow you to add apps on them and all kinds of cool stuff, so don\u2019t even buy the handsets.<\/p>\n<p>If you foresee any change within your company and you\u2019re buying a new phone system, go with a hosted system. Trust me. It just makes the most sense.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, that\u2019s enough about that. Now, what if your company is not buying a new phone system and you have a single location? Should you use a PRI, or should you use analog lines, or should you use <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span>? Well, most of you probably have PRI out there and you\u2019re probably wondering if you should go to SIP. It goes back to the fact that, with SIP, you are not going to save any money, typically, with a single location, if you\u2019re comparing apples to apples, moving from a PRI. I would not switch technologies just to save money.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you want to do something cool with SIP like if you want to be able to fail over more locations or you have a couple of remote sites\u2026 I know that we\u2019re talking about a single location, but, say, you have a couple of remote sales people at different parts of the country and you want some different local phone numbers to be able to ring into that site, or you want some cool features and functionality, yes, you may want to go with SIP trunking. But, for the most part, if you have a PRI in place now, you have a single location, there\u2019s really not a whole lot of need there to go to SIP to save money or anything. You\u2019re not going to save a lot of money if you\u2019re really going apples to apples.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to throw some caution to the wind and you want to try SIP over BYOB, like, just sending it across your internet connectivity, by all means. But, in that scenario, just be aware, there\u2019s no guarantee on that voice quality. You\u2019re going to save some money, but when your users are complaining that they have gargle-y voice or there\u2019s one-way media going on like they can hear the person on the other end of the phone but that person cannot hear them, stuff like that, that\u2019s going to happen once in a while with BYOB SIP. There\u2019s no way around it. You just cannot control the public internet.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t matter how much bandwidth you throw at it. It\u2019s latency, packet loss, and jitter that is going to cause that type of stuff. You cannot control that \u2013 I don\u2019t care how big your bandwidth is. Just know that if you go for the cost savings that you\u2019re going to sacrifice some call quality stuff going from a PRI, where everything is tried and true and guaranteed at all times, to SIP over BYOB.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, I\u2019d say, if you have a <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI<\/a><\/span>, you have a single location, you\u2019re not switching out phone systems, I\u2019d probably just stick with the PRI, maybe shop PRI service providers to see if you can save some money that way \u2013 that\u2019s probably your better route. We made a living off switching out PRI service providers for companies for many, many, many years. A lot of times you\u2019re with a provider that\u2019s way over charging you, so, absolutely, shop around. You might find some good deals out there or maybe you\u2019re not happy with your current service provider (find a better one), but switching voice technologies doesn\u2019t really make a whole lot of sense in terms of cost savings in itself. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span> is not going to save you money if you go dedicated SIP versus just a PRI unless you have multiple, multiple PRIs like three\/four\/five PRIs and you\u2019re going to go with SIP T1s \u2013 you might be able to skimp a PRI or two by compressing the voice. Hope that makes sense.<\/p>\n<p>So, that\u2019s my breakdown on voice technologies, what you should use, when you should use it, and why. I hope that all makes sense to you. I hope it was worth something.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to collect your free gift. It will, kind of, compliment this conversation. It\u2019s that voice comparison chart where I break down the different voice technologies, and all the differences between them, and when each technology is going to be the best fit for different applications for businesses.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll give it to you for free as a gift for being a podcast listener. All you have to do is text the word \u201cVOICEGUIDE\u201d to the number 44-222. Again, just text the word \u201cVOICEGUIDE\u201d to 44-222 and I\u2019ll send you a free soft copy of that voice guide. Alright, that\u2019s it. Have a great day and I\u2019ll talk to you next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SIP? PRI? Hosted VoIP? We know you aren&#8217;t fascinated by any of them but which should your company be using? Your host, Mike Smith takes the mic and answers this question for IT Nation. Having worked with voice from every<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/cloud-therapy-ep-012-the-best-business-phone-service\/\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more &#8250;<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[371],"tags":[215,614,446,447,422,429,625,382,448,377,533,626,428,381,624,390,423,531,387,480,539,627,391],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}